Composite materials have many applications, which include aircraft structures such as fuselage or wing panels. One method of manufacturing articles or pieces from composite material involves laminating a sheet material using a resin to bond the layers of the laminate together. Laminate materials include non-metallic materials such as glass fibre, boron fibre, carbon fibre, Kevlar™ and graphite or metallic materials such as aluminium, titanium or magnesium. Suitable resins include, epoxy, bismaleimide, polyimide, polyester, phenolic and thermoplastic resins.
When manufacturing a composite piece it is common to form features in the piece such as rebated or shaped edges or apertures. While it is possible to machine such features into a piece, such post-cure manufacturing operations carry a risk of damage to the composite piece. Therefore, it is preferable to form the features into the piece during the laminating process thus reducing post-cure manufacturing operations. One problem with pre-forming features in a piece is that it may introduce anomalies such as kinks in the plies within the laminate or air pockets in the resin. Such anomalies can significantly degrade the performance to the finished piece.